Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chapman of Darlington on 17 March (HL15165), whether the Ponsonby Rule applies to memorandums of understanding they sign with (1) foreign governments, (2) local, regional or state-level government tiers of foreign countries, and (3) supranational organisations; what their definition of a treaty is in this context; and what their policy is on disclosing to Parliament international agreements with foreign bodies that do not have the status of a treaty.

The Ponsonby Rule, which was put onto a statutory footing by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, did not apply to Memoranda of Understanding. The Government uses the definition of a treaty set out in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, which is consistent with the definition used in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Memoranda of Understanding and other non-legally binding instruments are treated like other expressions of Government policy. Where they raise questions of public importance, it may be necessary to bring them to the attention of Parliament. There will be occasions where the sensitivity of content or the wishes of other signatories (for example, on defence matters) means that such arrangements must be kept confidential.